Charles Howard Candler, Sr.

Charles Howard Candler, Sr. (1879 – October 1, 1957)^[1] was an American businessman and author. He was one of the few people that his father, Asa Candler, first trusted with the secret-at the time-formula used to make Coca-Cola, which, at the time, included coca leaves.

Biography

Candler was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the first born of Asa and Lucy Elizabeth Candler (nee Howard). He was given the middle name Howard to honor his maternal grandfather, merchant George C. Howard.

As a youngster, he attended the Georgia Military Institute and then the Emory College at Oxford. Candler studied two years of medicine at the Emory School of Medicine and was a student at Bellevue Hospital Medical College for another year before deciding to join his father at Coca Cola.

According to the Emory College's list of famous alumni, Candler attended during 1898.^[2]

During 1900, Charles Howard Candler visited Canada and learned that Coca-Cola was already being sold in the cities he toured, Vancouver and Victoria. He was in Canada to study the possibility of shipping the soda to that country.^[3]

During 1916, Candler succeeded Asa Candler as president of the Coca-Cola Company. He left the post soon after but returned four years later, running the company from 1920 to 1923,^[4] when the company was under ownership of Ernest Woodruff, who had bought it over from the Candler family.

Candler, along with Robert W. Woodruff (Ernest's son), remains one of only two people to have been president of Coca-Cola twice.^[5]

Personal life

Candler married the former Ruth Stillman and, later on, Flora Glenn Candler.^[6] He had four children, sons Charles "Buddy" Candler III (who went on to become a prominent citizen himself as founding director of the Trust Company Bank in nearby Sandy Springs) and Samuel, and daughters Glenn (Fuller) and Ruth (Lovett).^[7]

Home

Candler's mansion, located at the Druid Hill section of Atlanta, is currently the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center^[8] and hosts various social events every year.

Professorhip

Candler served the Emory College as chair of their board of trustees for almost 30 years. According to that college's internet page, Candler helped the university survive through the Great Depression and World War II.

Candler has a "professorship"-a type of award given by the school-named after him; several excelling students have been recipients of the "Charles Howard Candler professorships", which are funded by the school boards and sponsored by widow, Flora Glenn Candler.^[6]

Writings

Candler was the writer of a biographical book on his father, titled "Asa Griggs Candler", which was first published in 1950^[9] and then republished, in 1997, as "Asa Griggs Candler: Founder of Coca Cola" by his son, Charles Howard Candler, Jr,^[10] who is now a prominent professor and writer who has written three books himself.^[11]

References